Changes After the Crisis (Snowbarry)

11

It had been a month since Barry and Caitlin were together, the only ones who knew it were Joe Cisco and Singh, they had decided to wait, but now they thought it was time to tell Nora.

The two had decided to talk to her at home so that she was in a quiet environment, and felt comfortable

"Dad, Caity, what did you want to talk to me about?" Nora said sitting on the sofa next to the two

"See Nora there is one thing Cait and I would like to talk to you about" Barry replied "We are together", it took some time for the little girl to understand, she was only 9 years old

"This means Caity will come to live with us, and will you replace my mother with her? " asked Nora, becoming sad

"I would never replace your mother my little one" Caitlin said kneeling in front of the child, to be at the same height as her "I love your father very much, I love you and Bart the same way, if no more, I don't want to replace your mother... I just want to be with the three of you and show all the good I want you"

Nora smiled and hugged Caitlin tightly.

Things were going very well it had been a few weeks, it was now Bart's first birthday, the couple had taken advantage of that day to officially declare themselves, but now things were different it was in fact the anniversary of Iris's disappearance, the morning passed quietly , in the evening they all decided to go out together, Nora walked holding Barry's hand while Caitlin pushed the stroller where Bart was sleeping peacefully, to see them from the outside they looked like a perfect family... no one would have expected that behind all this there was a tragedy.

They returned home when the sun was setting, Nora was happy she had not realized the difficult anniversary, however something particular made that day sweet and bitter at the same time.

Bart had woken up, he was hungry, Cait picked him up to give him the bottle with milk when... "Mom".

Bart had said his first word MOM... and said it to Caitlin.
Her heart was bursting with joy, tears came to her eyes, Barry was even happier, but as he was about to hug his girlfriend, Nora screamed "LIER, YOU ARE NOT HIS MOTHER YOU ARE NOT MY MOTHER GO AWAY I HATE YOU" then she ran upstairs and locked herself in her room.

As she saw her running to her room the tears of joy turned into tears of sadness, between a sob and the other she said "Barry... Sorry I shouldn't be here ... I have to go ... I'm sorry for what Bart said..."  as she walks to the door, Barry walked up to her and hugged her, "Cait, you've been looking after Bart along with Joe and Cecil since Iris disappeared, you've been his mother for all intents and purposes, don't feel guilty, you'd be his mother to him even if we weren't together!".

Despite her father's attempts, Nora continued to refuse to speak to Caitlin, the woman could not believe it, she was very ill, Nora was her goddaughter, their relationship had always been very strong.
Nora was afraid to sleep at friends' houses, even at Joe's she didn't feel safe without her parents, however she would gladly stop at her, even if she slept on a sofa bed, indeed she got angry if she couldn't stay at "Caity's", now instead she seemed to hate her deeply.

One night Barry was working on an urgent case and Bart couldn't sleep, Caitlin decided to sing him a lullaby, seeing the little boy's eyes shining she was not even out of tune, however when she sang the word MOM, Nora came running up behind her yelling "YOU ARE NOT OUR MOTHER, YOU ARE A HORRIBLE PERSON YOU DON'T DESERVE HAPPINESS !!!" , Hearing those strong words , Caitlin left the house in tears, got into the car and went to the Star labs.

When he got home Barry found that Caitlin was gone, wasted no time and went to the Star labs.

"Cait..." Barry said as they enter the lounge

"Go away Barry, I need to be alone now !!" she said in tears

"Come on Cait come on, things will work out, I'm sure" Barry said hugging her,  she started sobbing and said

"No Barry, the relationship between me and Nora is ruined forever!

When you came to see me, every time you had to leave, Nora hugged me and didn't want to leave me! She always insisted on staying with me! During the nice evenings we stayed up late looking at the stars with the telescope on my balcony, in winter we would spend the evening on the sofa together under the covers, and she would fall asleep in bed with me ... I have never had children but for me she has always been like a daughter! Seeing the hatred in her eyes is something that destroys me, I can't stand it! ",

Barry realized at that moment how much Caitlin cared about Nora, her daughter never talked about evenings at Caitlin's house but every morning when she came home, she was always happy content, she had always learned something new, of astronomy like the names of the constellations, of the stars, of the satellites of Jupiter... even the names of the asteroids... even of sciences like those are the kingdoms of animals as we classify the species, even of medicine! One day, while watching with the whole family movie she said "the whole scene is completely absurd from a medical point of view, isn't it Caity?" Everyone at the time had laughed except Caitlin, the two had a very special relationship that no one knew existed.

Caitlin was devastated, the one who for years she had considered as a daughter did not want to speak to her.
She was desperate but at a certain point she remembered something that Barry had told her: he had reacted in a similar way towards Joe when he adopted him
Without hesitation, she picked up the phone and dialed the number

"Joe, I'm Caitlin I have something I need to talk to you about, it's important it's about Nora"

"Sure Caitlin, has something serious happened to her?"

"No Joe ... she's fine the problem is related to her, I need some advice"

"Okay Caitlin, come here"

Caitlin took the car and in less than 15 minutes she arrived at the West house, sat down with Joe on the sofa in front of the fireplace.

"What did you want to talk to me about Caitlin?" Joe asked

"It's about Nora ... or rather Bart ... I messed everything up," she said tearfully

"Calm down Caitlin, don't cry, talk"

"Bart said his first word the other day ... Mom and he said it to me ... Nora took it badly, she screamed at me that I'm not their mother that I'm a monster who doesn't deserve happiness and hates me"

Joe hugged her and said "When Barry came to live with me it took him 6 months to accept it, give Nora some time I'm sure she will change her mind and accept the change, just don't leave her alone."